Am i wrong for this???, ebay sale goes bad!!! Options

[supradog1]

This is the sad story of a 6gc'er who thought selling his car on ebay was a grate idea... well, i was wrong!!!! please let me know what your thoughts are on the matter at hand and what i should do...
This guy (buyer) has locked up my paypal and my ebay acct!!! Some one please help me!!!
The following is how the ordeal went down and is what i submited to paypal as my stament...

Back on Apr. 14, 2008 Rusland (buyer) put a deposit down of $500 USD to purchase the 1994 Toyota Celica shortly there after the remaining amount of $7,397.42 USD was sent. Buyer then asked me to “help” ship the car to New York. I made no promise that the car would be shipped to buyer by a set date as the auto transport serves we were using had no pick up date because they were all booked. Buyer insisted that the car be in New York city by the 5/4/08. Buyer needs to understand conditions as stated in the auction (buyer arrange shipment seller is not responsible for shipping.) I helped buyer as much as possible and had the car delivered to a drop off lot in North Miami were it would be shipped by auto transport serves. Buyer then contacted me5/1/08 at 3:00 am and stated that he would be flying into Ft Lauderdale FL on 5/2/08 to pick up the car. I explained to buyer that the car has already been dropped off at shipping lot, and that I work that day and would need more time to plan ahead. Buyer insisted that I pickup car and meet him on 5/2/08 10am. I had car redelivered to the shop were it was being stored before and meet buyer on 5/2/08 at 12:30 pm and went over the car. Buyer then asked if he could also have my tag to drive car home. Advise buyer to purchase his own tag. Buyer then told me that “he could not drive car home because he did not have a tag or enough time.” (time was 1:45 pm, we only meet for about an hour) Buyer them became upset and demanded that I fix all the imperfection (listed below) or he was going to leave car with me and charge back my pay pal account. Advised buyer I would help pay to have imperfections repaired and to take car with him. Buyer said he had no time for me to fix imperfections and demanded me to pay him his money back and told me to resell the car. Explained to buyer again that the car is his and that the minor imperfections do not exceed $300. Buyer then left the car behind witch forced me to put car back into storage and I will be charging buyer $15 storage fee per day as I have no were to store the car but at the shop. All photos on eBay are accurate. The only one that is different is steering wheel photo because cover was removed and it is now black.

The car does have a small leak at top of windshield that I was unaware of, I repaired it with new molding.
Buyer complained that the windshield washers fluid did not work. I added washer fluid, washers work fine.
I also reinstalled the passenger seat bolt which customer requested .
The steering wheel cover I am unable to replace at this time it, was removed at the detail shop when the car was being cleaned. It is now black and not red.
Engine in car is good, it’s a 15 year old car with 230,000 miles and runs as it should for a car this age/mileage. as stated in auction “every thing on the car works.”

[ZGear]

I was sad to hear when this car was posted on ebay for sale. Now to hear this........... The customer was too picky to begin with and that is what ebay is about, not having the right idea of what you are buying. Glad to hear that you were a good seller as you did fix the small complaints here and there.

I thought you did it right, but to rush the delivery.....that guy should of just flown to your location and trailer the car back to his place, the fact that he couldn't drive it back. That's why I really don't bother with ebay unless it's something I really need. I really don't know what you should do, but ideally the car was never delivered and he's going to hold you to that. If he so choose not to buy it then he's gonna have to repeal the paypal complaint, unless he's a jerk.

Sorry to hear....hope all will become good!

This post has been edited by ZGear: May 27, 2008 - 9:08 PM

[supradog1]

this is what i got from it to... he was to picky and was expecting the car to be like "brand new".... i read up on the rules of ebay and it states that a car can have up to $1000 worth of damage and the seller dose not have to list it!!! (wow did not know that!!!) so with this in mind the car is well with in guidlines of ebay rules... the car is his at this time but how long must i wait for him to come get it???

[bslik]

unless there is an almost exact replica of this celica, i saw it on monday. there was a florida honda crew meet at markham park and i just so happen to see supradogs celica pull into the entrance. since all the hondas were being kicked out at that time the celica just turned right around and left. but when i saw it i thought to myslef "i thought he sold that car???"...

ANYWAY, i think since the fact still stands that he paid the money and didnt recieve the product, the right thing is that he either still recieve the product as listed, or get the money back. i dont think its complicated enough to take it to court or anything. if the buyer is being difficult, maybe he doesnt deserve such a beautiful car... but thats just me, what do i know (dumb high school kids these days)

im an ebay noob myself so i dont know how all that works but good luck

[supradog1]

yes i brought the celi out to the honda meet to show some toyota luv!!! lol!!! but i feel the same as you, i want him to have his car but he came and to pick it up became up set over a tag and left it at mtr!!! wtf??? i dont know what to say or think!!! so its been parked mostly at the shop or my house...

[njccmd2002]

can you sue him for damage, storage and repairs, its his car now....

Actually his winning bid is a contract.

[snapshotgt]

Thread cleaned. Lets keep it on topic please.

[95CelicaST]

Did your auction state that the $500 was non-refundable?

Yes, a winning auction is a binding contract. Either the winner pays all of the fees that have been amassed, takes a negative mark on his account, and go on with his life

or

he needs to pay the remainder plus fees and take the car.

[CAMAricer]

Document, document, document! That is always the key to dealing with these types of problems. Do you have any of the communications between the buyer and yourself saved? Forwarding these to paypal and ebay will help your case.

As a frequent ebay buyer, I understand the rights that we have against fraudulent sellers. But I also know of the rights sellers have too. Unfortunately, paypal and ebay sides on the side of the buyer the majority of the time. Again, your best bet is to find all the correspondences and submit them to ebay and paypal.

As a side story: I've had my paypal account terminated b/c of a seller than lied about me never returning an item back to him. Even when I submitted proof of delivery months later, paypal refused to reactivate my account (although acknowledging that they did me wrong). Go figure.

[black13]

^^ Very true, in the several cases that I've been in and have seen, ebay/paypal almost always side with the buyer. This is really bad for sellers if they usually selling a high price item.

In this case, I'd say return that douche's money and re sell it. Damn it this car is way too beautiful to be sold, wait for me the get money!

[RUNNIN-LOW]

gosh if i wasnt so broke i would say freak the dude ill take the car from u....and just swap my third gen in it gosh...if i wasnt so broke!!!

[joehernandez]

wow,, pretty bad what happened,, but i dont understand why was the guy so in a hurry to get the car on an exact date!

[GriffGirl]

I actually think it sounds like the guy was trying to scam you by intimidating you. You did the right thing to not let him have your tags. That's a big red flag in my opinion.

I think the best course of action here would be for you to cut your losses and refund him his money in its entirety, minus any fees incurred (delivering the car to transport services, etc.) The buyer entered an agreement with you by being the winning bidder on the car, and solidified that agreement by sending you a deposit. It's not your fault that he basically changed his mind. He's the one who bought the car sight unseen; it was his obligation as the buyer to arrange for shipping and to accept the car in AS-IS condition.

At this point even if the buyer does decide he wants the car, I think you should file a complaint with eBay about him and just basically end the transaction at that, again, refunding his money, less the costs you incurred resulting from his indecision and poor planning. For that matter, poor planning on his part does not constitute an emergency on your part. I really think this guy is trying to scam you.

[D-Man]

Go with griff's course of action. Then re-sell the car, but skip e-bay. Scammer's and dumbass's do alot of e-baying. Not saying everyone is; but there are a lot of nickel nabbers and 'tard's in the mall right? Well e-bay is the WORLDS mall. So that's alot of people who you wouldn't wanna do busniess hanging out there... i'd sugest craigslist and here.

Or take your chances with e-bay again, but may the force be with you

G/L with your sale.

[supradog1]

thanks all!!! but i sold the car to get my self out of a jam and i have used most of the money already!!! this guy only has one option and that is to take the car... other wise what can happen to me at this point??? i did sell him a good car and buyres remorse is not getting this guy his money back... a deal is a deal!!!! right??? i thought thats what ebay was for??? to buy and sell under aution terms... unlike a store were if you dont like somthing you can take it back...

[playr158]

its actually very illegal for him to have your tags, just an FYI.

you're doing good, just make sure to keep all documentation, and keep things ordely as well as continue to work through the correct "chains of command"

[lagos]

thanks all!!! but i sold the car to get my self out of a jam and i have used most of the money already!!!

You shouldn't have spent that money until the transaction was complete.
Contact ebay/paypal and tell them this same story.

This post has been edited by lagos: May 29, 2008 - 10:52 AM

[GriffGirl]

thanks all!!! but i sold the car to get my self out of a jam and i have used most of the money already!!!

You shouldn't have spent that money until the transaction was complete.
Contact ebay/paypal and tell them this same story.

x2.